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(NBC News) China said on Wednesday [that] peace and stability on the Korean peninsula was in line with its own security interest after President-Elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Nominee, Rex Tillerson, said Beijing must help pressure Pyongyang to reform.

The Trump transition team circulated Tillerson’s opening statement to be delivered during his senate confirmation hearing.

Tillerson, like trump, will express a dim view of China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea such as its building artificial islands.

As Trump adopts from Obama the challenge of containing North Korea’s nuclear program, Tillerson signaled a move to exert more pressure on china to help.

When asked about Tillerson’s comments at a daily briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved regionally.

With reference to North Korea, Lu said China had made efforts to help realization of denuclearization on the peninsula.

Tillerson will say that challenges posed by isis, China, North Korea and Iran represent new global realities that must be addressed with an assertive united states.